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Monday, September 21, 2015

Federal Judge: Profanely Insulting An Entire Town On A Speeding Ticket Is Protected Speech

Sep 18th 2015, 16:35, by Timothy Geigner

Do you remember Willian Barboza? No? He was the un-creative but quite profane
young man who, upon being pulled over for speeding the laughably-named
Liberty, New York, mailed in his ticket and fine with these wonderful
words of wisdom scrawled across the top.

Fine,
so Barboza isn't exactly Robert Frost. Still, his admittedly vulgar
etchings probably weren't reason enough for the city to refuse his
payment and subsequently charge him with harrassment under a horribly
unconstitutional law. The city went that route anyway, though, and the
matter went before a court, where the judge dismissed the charges
against Barboza, as his profanity upon the ticket was obviously
protected speech. I had thought that was the end of the story. I was
wrong.

Shortly
after that, Barboza, with the help of the New York Civil Liberties
Union and attorney Stephen Bergstein, filed a lawsuit against the town
of Liberty, assistant district attorney Robert Zangla and the two
officers who arrested Barboza. The suit alleged that the arrest had
violated Barboza's First Amendment right to free speech.

Barboza's
attorneys argued that officials in Liberty had seriously misinterpreted
New York's aggravated harassment statute. The statute says it's against
the law for a person to "harass, annoy, threaten or alarm” someone "by
telephone, by telegraph, or by mail, or by transmitting or delivering
any other form of written communication." But Seibel said Thursday that
what Barboza wrote, "though crude and offensive to some, did not convey
an imminent threat and was made in the context of complaining about
government activity," and therefore did not violate the statute.

And,
frankly, it's hard to argue with his attorneys. The wonderful thing
about free speech is that the speech is free even if the listener
doesn't like it. The city's attempt to twist a harrassment law into the
kind of pretzel that allows it to silence the criticism of government or
law enforcement was deplorable and not befitting a town that takes the
name of Liberty. As a person who relies on language some might find
salty in order to make or emphasize a point, it would be a travesty to
have to wonder whether simple expression might result in arrest and jail
time. I, frankly, can't think of anything more un-American.

The judge hearing Barboza and the NYCLU's case agreed with them completely.

Judge
Cathy Seibel said that prosecutors and police in Liberty, New York,
violated Willian Barboza's civil rights when they arrested and
prosecuted him for writing "Fuck your shitty town bitches" on a ticket
he received in 2012. The judge stated that Zangla is liable for damages
because he violated Barboza’s clearly established constitutional rights,
but that the two police officers are not liable because Zangla
instructed them to make the arrest. Seibel also ruled that Liberty will
have to stand trial for failing to train police officers regarding the
First Amendment.

Perhaps
we should be getting the primary schools Zangla went to involved as
well, because First Amendment protection is elementary school civics
class stuff. Regardless, it's a win for all of us salty-mouthed
bastards.